Bioorganically-augmented high value fertilizer

Abstract

The invention is directed to processes for treating biosolids that result in high-value, nitrogen-containing, slow-release, organically-augmented inorganic fertilizer that are competitive with less valuable or more costly conventional commercially manufactured fertilizers. The process involves conditioning traditional waste-water biosolids and processing the conditioned biosolids continuously in a high throughput manufacturing facility. The exothermic design and closed loop control of the primary reaction vessel decreases significantly the amount of power necessary to run a manufacturing facility. The process utilizes green technologies to facilitate decreased waste and enhanced air quality standards over traditional processing plants. The fertilizer produced from recovered biosolid waste is safe and meets or exceeds the United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) Class A and Exceptional Quality standards and is not subject to restrictions or regulations.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for processing biosolids into fertilizer, comprising:
 a first mixer adapted to blend the biosolids with acid and an oxidizing agent and convert the biosolids into a pumpable paste; 
 a pressure vessel with a head space pressure adapted to receive the pumpable paste from the first mixer, wherein the pressure vessel is adapted to retain the pumpable paste at a predetermined pressure and temperature as determined by the head space pressure and for a period of time; 
 a second mixer adapted to receive the pumpable paste from the pressure vessel and mix the pumpable paste with a hardening agent; and 
 a granulator adapted to break the hardened paste into pelletized fertilizer. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids comprise one or more of municipal biosolids, heat-dried biosolids, pharmaceutical fermentation wastes, microbial digests of organic products, food stuffs, food byproducts, animal manures, digested animal manures, organic biosolids, biosolids containing microorganisms, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a device adapted to dewater the biosolids by subjecting the biosolids to filtration, centrifugation, pressure, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the acid comprises at least phosphoric acid at a concentration of 50% or more. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined temperature is 230° F. or greater. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a device adapted to add one or more ferrates to the biosolids. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more ferrates is selected from the group consisting of a calcium ferrate, a sodium ferrate, a potassium ferrate, ferrous sulfate heptahydrate, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more ferrates is formed from reaction of a solid-state sodium hydroxide with sodium hypochlorite and ferric chloride. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the oxidizing agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, calcium hypochlorite, sodium hypochlorite, potassium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide, ozone, oxygen, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the period of time is 15 minutes or less. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a closed-loop computer adapted to control one or more of acidity, pressure, flow speed, pH, or base infusion speed to maintain the predetermined reaction temperature. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 1 , wherein organic material in the biosolids is partially or completely hydrolyzed, denatured, or sterilized. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the organic material is one or more members selected from the group consisting of pharmaceutical compounds, antibiotics, hormones, hormone-like molecules, biologically active compounds, macromolecules, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, fats, lipids, proteins, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 1 , wherein phosphate content of the fertilizer is from 0.5% to 4%. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 1 , wherein nitrogen content of the fertilizer is enhanced by aqueous ammonia. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the granulator is adapted to add a granulating agent to form a dried and granulated mixture. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a device adapted to crush the dried and granulated mixture. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 16 , further comprising one or more screens adapted to pass the dried and granulated mixture through to isolate granules of a predetermined size. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a device adapted to coat the dried granules with a coating agent. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the coating agent is applied to the granules within a cooling apparatus. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a cooling apparatus adapted to cool the dried and granulated mixture to a temperature of 140° F. or less. 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the cooling apparatus is a fluidized bed, an ammonia chiller, or a rotating drum. 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a device adapted to add one or more plant nutrients to the pumpable paste. 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 23 , wherein the one or more plant nutrients are selected from the group consisting of urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, urea ammonium nitrate, liquid urea, potash, iron oxide, soluble iron, chelated iron and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardening agents are selected from the group consisting of ferric oxides, alum attapulgite clay, industrial molasses, lignon, ligno sulfonate, urea formaldehyde polymerizer and combinations thereof. 
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a steam generator adapted to inject steam produced by the steam generator into the first mixer. 
     
     
       27. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure vessel further comprises a plurality of valves adapted to control at least one of steam levels, mixture levels, temperature, presser, pH, or nitrogen levels. 
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 1 , wherein air discharge from the facility is less than 30 CFM. 
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an ammonia vaporizer and a baghouse dryer.